Recipe Wednesday

Back when I first moved to San Francisco in 1987, I moved there with Troy, who was ready to brush the stench of Stockton off of his shoes as much as I was. He found us a great flat in SF, at Fulton and Masonic, for only $850 a month. Boy, what a deal. Anyway, Troy was a great guy, he used to work at a hotel down near the airport on the graveyard shift, and I worked at a hotel in downtown SF on the 4 - 12 shift, and we both went to school in the mornings. A few times I woke up and found flowers on my pillow...he had been driving home from work and saw someone selling them on the side of the road, and bought them for me. What a romantic guy! Of course, he was gay, so it wasn't THAT kind of romance. Anyway, in addition to being incredibly gifted linguistically (he picked up languages like stray dogs pick up fleas....he spoke English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Japanese, and I suspect a bit of Portuguese) one of his dreams was to be a chef. When we were in Stockton, he had taken some cooking classes at the local community college, and really liked it. He had some great recipes. He also had some pretty good, very basic cookbooks, like the one where I found this recipe, my favorite Linguine and Clams recipe that I've ever found. It's not fancy. It doesn't have fresh clams and white wine in the mix. But it's easy, and it's tasty, and it's ruined me for Linguine and Clams in most restaurants. And I don't have it anymore. I can make it myself, but I don't know how much of what, I just eyeball it. So, if you're game, and if you're not a vegetarian, or you're the kind of vegetarian that thinks fish is a veggie (You know who you are!), here you go. I'm pretty sure that the recipe came from this International Betty Crocker cookbook, which I just now ordered from Amazon.com. We'll see when I get it how well I remembered the recipe!

Linguine and Clams
1 Onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
butter and oil, for sauteeing onion and garlic
3 cans minced or chopped clams, 1 drained, 2 not drained
1 bay leaf
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Basil
Flour or Corn Starch mixed with milk
Parmesan Cheese (added to recipe by Cherry, who always knows how to take a good thing and make it better)
Linguine
Parsley for garnish

Saute' onion and garlic in olive oil and butter over medium low heat until soft and translucent.
Add clams, bay leaf, salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Simmer until clams are cooked and flavors are melded.

Cook Linguine is boiling salted water.

Add flour or corn starch to clam mixture, cook until thickened. Add cheese.

Add cooked linguine to sauce, toss to coat.

Garnish with parsley.

Serve with a crunchy salad, nice white wine, and maybe some sourdough bread if you like. YUMMY!